Category: Writing Style & Voice

+Book Review+ The Boleyn Bride by Brandy Purdy #histnov, #Tudor

Posted Friday, 11 July, 2014 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs The Boleyn Bride by Brandy Purdy

The Boleyn Bride by Brandy Purdy

Published By:Kensington Publishing Corp. (), 25 February, 2014
Official Author Websites: Blog*previously this author had a site and Facebook
Available Formats: Trade Paperback, E-book
Page Count: 272

Converse on Twitter via: #BoleynBride, #BrandyPurdy & #EmilyPurdy

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Acquired Book By: Whilst the blog tour for “The Boleyn Bride” was underway with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, I was making my rounds to the different blogs who were hosting either an Author Interview or a Book Review, or a combination thereof. Although I was not personally connected to the blog tour myself, I oft-times find that the books which tour with HFVBT are ones that I am interested in and thereby my visits on their tour are a pure delight for me! As I am as bubbly on my visits as I am on my own blog as well as Twitter, I left some happy-hearted comments on behalf of this book & author. As she was a new-to-me author as at that point in time I had not heard of her works or known of her works as well as I do now. Shortly after my visits, I received a note from Ms. Purdy asking me if I would be interested in reading her novels. I received a complimentary copy of “The Boleyn Bride” direct from the author herself, Brandy Purdy in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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On how I know Ms. Purdy: As I was contacted originally a few months back to read both “The Boleyn Bride” and “The Queen’s Rivals”, we came to find ourselves enjoying the conversation which flowed together rather organically out of that correspondence. I have appreciated getting to know a fellow writer, especially one who writes historical fiction as that is one branch of literature although I deeply appreciate to read, was always a bit trepiderious to pen! I give such a strong nod to the writers who write such delicious historicals, because they give us a way to drink in history in an agreeable manner! I am honoured to have been given the chance to get to know her better in the process of scheduling the reviews on my blog. She even kindly enclosed bookmarks which feature her novels, and I’ve been enjoying them as I read! Bookmarks have become one of my favourite surprises to find enclosed within a book I receive for review!

I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with her through the past few months by email. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time.

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Book Synopsis: A NOVEL OF ELIZABETH BOLEYN

From carefree young woman to disillusioned bride, the dazzling lady who would become mother and grandmother to two of history’s most infamous queens, has a fascinating story all her own…

At sixteen, Elizabeth Howard envisions a glorious life for herself as lady-in-waiting to the future queen, Catherine of Aragon. But when she is forced to marry Thomas Boleyn, a wealthy commoner, Elizabeth is left to stagnate in the countryside while her detested husband pursues his ambitions. There, she raises golden girl Mary, moody George, and ugly duckling Anne–while staving off boredom with a string of admirers. Until Henry VIII takes the throne…

When Thomas finally brings his highborn wife to London, Elizabeth indulges in lavish diversions and dalliances–and catches the lusty king’s eye. But those who enjoy Henry’s fickle favor must also guard against his wrath. For while her husband’s machinations bring Elizabeth and her children to the pinnacle of power, the distance to the scaffold is but a short one–and the Boleyn family’s fortune may be turning…Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Author Biography:

Brandy Purdy is the author of several historical novels. When she’s not writing, she’s either reading, watching classic movies, or spending time with her cat, Tabby. She first became interested in history at the age of nine or ten when she read a book of ghost stories that contained a chapter about the ghost of Anne Boleyn haunting the Tower of London. Visit her website at brandypurdy.com for more information about her books. You can also follow her via her blog at brandypurdy.blogspot.com where she posts updates about her work and reviews of what she has been reading.

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Historical backdrop focusing on the Tudors:

As odd as this might sound, my knowledge of the Tudors and of the Elizabethan era has grown tremendously over the score of time since I started blogging about books! Within the short few seven months of 2014, I can even say I have felt a stronger connection to the era and to the realm within the Courts than any other moment of my life, outside of the fact I’ve always have held a close attachment to Sir William Shakespeare! We all know of certain families by name alone without the beneficial back-story of who they were as they lived nor of the ramifications of their circumstances as their lives unfolded. One of the best bits about historical fiction is that if we find ourselves inspired to read one story about a specific person or persons who lived in the historical past, we have the tendency to seek out more about them either in non-fiction or continue to source other authors who draw a breath of their world onto the printed page in fiction.

The Boleyn family is surely one of the ones I am referring too as having ‘known by name’ but without the close connections of who they were outside of the superficial and my interest in the Courts of England is one that I have never yet had the chance to broach! I love British History, mind you, but I also like a bit of brevity to what I read, as I do not always have to read a serious accountment of history but rather, I find myself attracted to stories that either are lifted straight from the annals of historical records OR conjured out of the imaginary heart of its writer. I went into reading The Boleyn Bride full of expecting to experience the Tudors and their interior worlds as a reader who is enjoying her pursuit of their lives!

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • Go Indie
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Posted Friday, 11 July, 2014 by jorielov in 16th Century, Arranged Marriages in Royalty, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Book Review (non-blog tour), Bookish Discussions, Britian, Clever Turns of Phrase, Disillusionment in Marriage, Elizabeth Howard Boleyn, Geographically Specific, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Mental Health, Romance Fiction, Story in Diary-Style Format, Tudor Era, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage, Writing Style & Voice

+Blog Book Tour+ The Tilted World by Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennelly #histfic

Posted Tuesday, 8 July, 2014 by jorielov , , , , 4 Comments

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The Tilted World by Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennelly

The Tilted World by Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennelly

Published By:William Morrow (@WmMorrowBks),
10 June 2014 (reprint – paperback edition)
an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers ()
Author PagesTom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennelly @ Mississippi Writers & Musicians
Available Formats: Hardcover, Paperback & Ebook
Page Count: 336

Converse on Twitter via: #TheTiltedWorld, #TomFranklin, & #BethAnnFennelly

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Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a tour stop on the “The Tilted World” virtual book tour through TLC  Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the publisher William Morrow, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read:

The premise of the story itself appealed to me, but truly what captured my heart and attention about this particular story was the book review posted by Max Winter on Los Angeles Review of Books. Talk about centering one’s attention around a story and the characters within the story in such a way as to illuminate The Tilted World in a tangible and cohesive way to warrant you to itch to read its chapters for yourself! I could not wait to sign up for the blog tour after reading this particular review, because I felt inspired by the words in which Winter imparted on the novel’s behalf as much as the attention he gave to the writers who penned the tale itself. It truly is a review that captures the joy of reading and the blessings of finding stories which capture our attention. The kind of review I always hope I am able to write myself, and thereby, inspire others to read the stories which instill a fond memory inside my heart for having found them.

I had found this title through my local library prior to being selected for the tour, however, I never did have the properly chance to check the book out! I simply like giving a nod to my library for being a constant source of inspiration of where I find new authors and new stories to read!

Book Synopsis:

Set against the backdrop of the historic flooding of the Mississippi River, The Tilted World is an extraordinary tale of murder and moonshine, sandbagging and saboteurs, and a man and a woman who find unexpected love, from Tom Franklin, the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, and award-winning poet Beth Ann Fennelly

The year is 1927. As rains swell the Mississippi, the mighty river threatens to burst its banks and engulf everything in its path, including federal revenue agent Ted Ingersoll and his partner, Ham Johnson. Arriving in the tiny hamlet of Hobnob, Mississippi, to investigate the disappearance of two fellow agents who’d been on the trail of a local bootlegger, they are astonished to find a baby boy abandoned in the middle of a crime scene.

Ingersoll, an orphan raised by nuns, is determined to find the infant a home, and his search leads him to Dixie Clay Holliver. A strong woman married too young to a philandering charmer, Dixie Clay has lost a child to illness and is powerless to resist this second chance at motherhood. From the moment they meet, Ingersoll and Dixie Clay are drawn to each other. He has no idea that she’s the best bootlegger in the county and may be connected to the agents’ disappearance. And while he seems kind and gentle, Dixie Clay knows full well that he is an enemy who can never be trusted.

When Ingersoll learns that a saboteur might be among them, planning a catastrophe along the river that would wreak havoc in Hobnob, he knows that he and Dixie Clay will face challenges and choices that they will be fortunate to survive. Written with extraordinary insight and tenderness, The Tilted World is that rarest of creations, a story of seemingly ordinary people who find hope and deliverance where they least expect it—in each other.

Author Biographies:Tom Franklin

Tom Franklin is the award-winning and New York Timesbestselling author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, which was nominated for nine awards and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association’s Gold Dagger Award. His previous works include Poachers, whose title story won the Edgar Award, as well as Hell at the Breech and Smonk. The winner of a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship, he teaches in the University of Mississippi’s MFA program.

Beth Ann Fennelly

Beth Ann Fennelly has won grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and United States Artists, as well as a Fulbright grant to travel to Brazil. Her honors include the Kenyon Review Prize and three inclusions in The Best American Poetry. She has published three volumes of poetry as well as a work of nonfiction, Great with Child. She directs the University of Mississippi’s MFA program, where she was named the 2011 Outstanding Teacher of the Year.

Beth Ann and Tom live in Oxford, Mississippi, with their three children.

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The Southern States and Mid-West during the 1920s:

Etched into the background of the novel, is the discourse and disillusionment of the 1920s era of socioeconomic differences between the classes. From seeing points of view of the federal agents operating under Hoover’s arm of command (prior to his Presidency, I had not realised he was what I would consider one of the first officials to take charge in a manner that is representative of what we now call FEMA) to the sweeping arc of seeing the everyday world of farmers, bootleggers, and every person in-between caught between the Mississippi and higher ground. The prejudicial views between cultural backgrounds are also fully present, as they would be as the Civil Rights era was still a ways off into the future. It was a time of distrust and a discrepancy of honour, as there are murmurings of agents on the take and of back-end deals that would disrupt the integrity of law and order.

What I appreciated the most is the manner in which everything is depicted and given a true voice to the era in which the story is set. The authors found a way to relay the fullness of the time without making you feel the heavy weight of the research. The bits they worked into the background aide the reader’s impression of the time and help paint the picture for those of us without relatives who either survived the flood or remembered its aftermath.

My review of The Tilted World:

The opening of the story is hitch-tailed to an all-out flash and dash shoot-out between two of the main lead characters: Jesse and Dixie Clay Holliver (a whipper snapper of woman if I ever laid eyes on in a novel) and two federal agents! She has the rapid fire intensity of a Southerner mixed in with a taste of moxie only a moonshining bootlegger of a woman would dare attribute to her list of qualities! She keeps calm under intense pressure of stress fused to a situation that does not bend nor yield to a positive outcome. Her husband Jesse, on the other hand, is a stick of dynamite that has less sense inside his head than a hound dog! He simply acts on impulse, lacks remorse and has no empathy for another life if given the chance to save his own skin. The two are a motley mix to be perfectly straight and frank, but fit within the manner in which the story is told through the writer’s vision that draws you into a story as complex and layered as this one is moulded!

I have always had a keen eye on Southern Literature (i.e. either literary exploits like this one OR Southern Gothic in nature), and this one by far captures the full essence of why I appreciate the category within its realm. On the one hand you have people living as best they can on the outskirts of the law, and on the opposite side you have the law itself, in the form of federal agents attempting to keep order whilst dealing with the lawbreakers who for all their quirks and sins, have captured your attention to hear their story straight til the concluding chapters! There is always going to be heavy drama against the backdrop of displacement and angst associated with natural disasters, but what I always worried about myself was the level of violence, looting, and absence of propriety during the time when it would be wiser to draw closer together as neighbours and aide each other through the worst bits still yet to come. To come together as a community rather than stand divided against each other on political or social grounds that in the end won’t add up to much if the loss of land and life outweighs the injustice of division.

I will admit, I had never heard of the Mississippi Flood of 1927 prior to my reading of The Tilted World, which struck me as a bit odd as I have always been rather keen on researching natural disasters and understanding climate change and the environmental impacts on a shifting global climate on a larger scale. Of course, truth be known until I saw back-to-back tornado documentaries on The Weather Channel this Spring, I had missed a few key storm systems, including the footage from the 1920s and 1930s which destroyed parts of the Northeast & New England states. I find that when it comes to climate and weather patterns, none of us truly know the full wrath of nature until the storm is upon us and the waters start to recede.

The murder and violence which erupts out of desperation runs counter-current to the drama unfolding for Dixie Clay (as she is commonly referred), who is running head-on into a situation quite beyond her control. The foreboding presence of the  natural world is a key element and nearly a narrator to the story. I appreciate the rooted presence of the beguiling skies and the approaching Mississippi; it gives way to understanding how fragile and how insufficient we are when it comes to the natural world and the cycles of its rhythms. There is a complete surprise sequence in the middle of the mayhem that truly warmed my heart, as is typically the plot twist I’d suspect to find inside a Romance novel (i.e. by ChocLitUK or Heartsong Presents): a brute and strong man finds his heart melts as soon as he meets a wee babe without a house, a home, or a family! I loved the sequences in which separated the federal agents: Ted Ingersoll and Ham Johnson – where one went to secure the flood zone from a supposed murderer on the lamb, the other went to sort out the affairs of the baby they found in the middle of the crime scene! That action by Ingersoll took him on a haphazard journey towards realising that he could no more leave the babe he nicknamed ‘Junior’ (after finding out his gender by way of changing his nappy!) at an orphanage than he could leave his roan in the mud!

Quite a classic scene in the early bits of the novel is when Ingersoll saunders rain-soaked down to his shins, covered in mud and muck, with an infant at his chest into what we would refer to as a General Mercantile with an attached Soda Fountain café with a bewildered expression that begged for help to secure his needs. He plucked out a bit of the money Hoover had given him to take the journey towards Hobnob and spent it on securing a better future for Junior. My own mind flitted back towards Dixie Clay and how she was suffering from postpartum depression from the loss of her own babe Jacob. Call me crazy, or maybe I’ve read a few too many romances in my time, but I thought to myself as the scene was setting up for Ingersoll and Junior, wouldn’t that make a mighty fine resolution to Dixie Clay’s situation? She’s a Mum-to-Be who lost her wee child too fast and too tragically. A woman in her early twenties without much of a prospect of a life outside of hard work and depressing living conditions with a husband who chases skirts and forgets he’s even married. Perhaps not the most ideal match, I grant you, but I had a hankering of a feeling the writers might spin this tale into a bit of a redemptive arc and give Dixie Clay a second chance at life, motherhood, and love.

I positively adore finding stories where men who otherwise are engaged into their careers would not even consider they were ready to become parents suddenly find themselves in the custody and care of a child! The way in which they approach the situation and how they handle the onslaught of emotions and conflicting beliefs of whether or not they feel befit to raise a child never loses its hold on my heart. I love seeing how unexpected circumstances give a ‘second view of life’ to someone who never thought they would have any life outside their respective job of choice. To see how their life would be different as a father, especially is a joy for a reader who loves how these kind of stories knit together. In this way, I was overjoyed with the passages Franklin & Fennelly stitched into “The Tilted World” on behalf of Ingersoll and Junior.

By the time I reached Chapter 14 & Chapter 15, my feelings of the novel started to shift and turn against the story as I was thinking of the tale heading in one direction only to arrive in one I was hoping against. The earlier chapters where Dixie Clay was describing her life and starting to piece together a life for her and Willy (Junior’s adopted name), I felt were the strongest parts knitting the story together and bringing forward a chance for Ingersoll and Dixie to come together. In the back of my mind, however, I knew that Jesse was a character who was as evil as the pitch of night, and that he might not be the type to simply let her walk out of his life, much less leave with her life in tact.

Dixie Clay’s life was not the kind of life most fathers would have wanted for their daughters, but her story reminded me of the women who find themselves trapped inside of a life they did not realise they had married into either. She was smarter than she felt, but she did not always make the right choices at the right moments to escape the heartache and the violence her husband would cast upon her without mercy. The rest of the story ebbed away from me, as I simply felt a bit disconnected from the remaining chapters of the story. For me, the better part of the story involved the second chance Dixie Clay and Ted Ingersoll had at having a life which involved love and the care of a child they both have fallen in love with the first moment they met him. The bits I struggled with were the menacing factors attributed to Jesse and his ill-plans for the towne he was attempting to destroy whilst erasing every inch of his life with Dixie Clay. The Mississippi true to its natural strength plays a strong role in how everything ties together and how wicked events can turn when acted upon out of hate and spite.

On the dual writing styles of a husband & wife team:

Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennelly co-write The Tilted World in such a way as to allow the reader to jettison into the Deep South, the Mississippi Delta region, and portions of the Mid-West as though we were alighting our shoes and feet during those epic days and nights awaiting for the floodwaters to crest and overtake our very own lands in 1927! The way in which they indued the setting and the swirling nightmaric event yet to come is a credit to their understanding of Southern Literature and the elements in which drift us back through time itself. They very much understand the subtlety of prose interwoven with narrative, and their ability to shine a light on a catastrophic event with the keen insight of the counter-culture affecting the tides of the people whose lives hang in the balance is rather brilliant!

The entire time I was reading The Tilted World, all I could think about was Clarkesville, Missouri a towne that was told there wasn’t enough resources (i.e. money) to battle the approaching flood-waters. They were very much on their own. A towne whose Mayor full of grief knew what that declaration would mean to her towne and to the people who lived there. We are still living through soul-wrecking natural disasters which are going to test not only our resolve but our strength as a nation. To not only survive, but to find ways to help each other without leaving anyone behind or without the resources for aide. I also recollected the efforts Fargoians gave to help stop the Red River from overtaking both Fargo (North Dakota) and Moorhead (Minnesota) not so long ago from today. We have a surge of bravery inside us, but nature is going to continue to test our will and our fortitude. We need to find ways to better prepare ourselves for what is going to become imminently devastating and minimalise the aftereffects.

 A small notation about vulgarity and the stronger language used proportionally throughout the text: as I consider this particular title to be held within the arena of literary fiction, there is a small measure of grace given for the inclusion of strong language, esp considering the time frame in which the story is set, the degree of the extreme events depicted, and the mindset of the characters who are reflecting their true natures within the context of the story’s arc. None of the blights of language used within the text affected me, because at the rare moments a word was said or used, it fit the subjective nature of the sentence or paragraph, did not alter or takeaway the narrative voice, and was realistically representative of the story. My only grave concerns on this particular topic of vulgarity is when it is used to shock or to jolt a reader out of the context of a story, or used surreptitiously without foundation. In this case, the writers owned the essence of their setting, the manner in which their style eludes to the greater horror of the historic flood, and conveyed their characters with honour. 

I also purposely did not mention the hurricane which destroyed the Gulf States in 2005. I believed it was quite apparent how this epic flood in 1927 was a precursor to Katrina and that mentioning it was not necessary. Afterall, none of us who live in this region will ever forget the storm, whether we were directly or indirectly impacted by its wrath. I personally still remember being on the road and interacting with survivors as much as the men and women who came into the region to provide aide, resources, and a sense of normalcy when the world was once again upturnt. What did surprise me is that this particular flood was not mentioned in any of the stories I listened too during Katrina, nor was it referenced after 2005. I am quite gobsmacked how this part of history seems to have disappeared from view and mind, like the writers hint at inside their Author’s Note.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comThis Blog Tour Stop is courtesy of TLC Book Tours:

TLC Book Tours | Tour HostFun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comVirtual Road Map of “The Tilted World” Blog Tour:

Thursday, June 12th: Cruising Susan Reviews

Thursday, June 19th: I’d Rather Be At The Beach

Friday, June 27th: The Relentless Reader

Monday, June 30th: Kritters Ramblings

Wednesday, July 2nd: Books on the Table

Thursday, July 3rd: Anita Loves Books

Monday, July 7th: Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Tuesday, July 8th: Jorie Loves a Story

Wednesday, July 9th: A Bookworm’s World

TBD: Unabridged Chick

Please visit my Bookish Events page to stay in the know for upcoming events!

{SOURCES: Book cover for “The Tilted World”, Author Biography, Author Photograph, and Book Synopsis  were provided by TLC Book Tours and used with permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Buy links on Scribd excerpt are not affiliated with Jorie Loves A Story. Book Excerpt was able to be embedded due to codes provided by Scribd.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Related Articles:

After the Deluge – (smithsonianmag.com)

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Posted Tuesday, 8 July, 2014 by jorielov in 20th Century, Adoption, African-American History, Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, Bookish Discussions, Bootleggers & Smugglers, Crime Fiction, Domestic Violence, Family Life, Historical Fiction, Historical Perspectives, History, Library Find, Life Shift, Literary Fiction, Mississippi River, Natural Disasters & Catastrophic Events, Orphans & Guardians, Prohibition, Scribd, Small Towne Fiction, The Deep South, the Mississippi Flood of 1927, The Natural World, TLC Book Tours, Vulgarity in Literature, Writing Style & Voice

+Book Review+ The Road Back by Liz Harris #ChocLitSaturdays

Posted Saturday, 5 July, 2014 by jorielov , , , 5 Comments

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The Road Back by Liz HarrisThe Road Back by Liz Harris

Author Connections: Personal Site | Blog

Facebook | Twitter | Converse via: #ChocLit

Illustrated By: Berni Stevens

 @circleoflebanon | Writer | Illustrator

Genre(s): Fiction | Romance | Time Shift

Forbidden Love | Drama | Historical

Published by: ChocLitUK, 6 September, 2012

Available Formats: Paperback, E-Book & Audiobook

Page Count: 314

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Acquired Book By:

I am a ChocLit reviewer who receives books of my choice in exchange for honest reviews! I received a complimentary copy of “The Road Back” from ChocLit via IPM (International Publisher’s Marketing) in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. 

On my Connection to Ms. Harris & my inspiration to read this novel:

When I began reading this novel, I was already hosting #ChocLitSaturdays chats on a regular basis. Eleven in the morning of a Saturday, has become a favourite hour for me to exchange conversation and joy with everyone who shows up to participate in a chat centered around ChocLit novels and the Romance branch of literature in general. Ms. Harris and I had exchanged a few conversations ahead of the chats beginning, and during one of those lovely moments she had mentioned to me about how she met Mr. Dexter (the writer behind Inspector Morse). I had an inkling I would appreciate reading this novel ahead of her mentioning that story to me, but afterwards, I knew I wanted to read this sooner rather than later! The fact that this story centers around an adoption story solidified my interest, as I will be adopting in the future myself.

Similar to my previous thoughts I shared about Ms. Courtenay, I have come to appreciate chatting with Ms. Harris, either through #ChocLitSaturdays chats or privately. She is most giving of her time and I have appreciated the opportunity to know the writer behind the stories I enjoy reading! She always shares her happy spirit in the chats too, and her insights into why she enjoys writing the books that speak to her the most.

I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with Harris through our respective love & passion of reading inside the twitterverse whilst I host #ChocLitSaturdays the chat as well as privately; I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time.

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Book Synopsis: 

When Patricia accompanies her father, Major George Carstairs, on a trip to Ladakh, north of the Himalayas, in the early 1960s, she sees it as a chance to finally win his love. What she could never have foreseen is meeting Kalden – a local man destined by circumstances beyond his control to be a monk, but fated to be the love of her life.

Despite her father’s fury, the lovers are determined to be together, but can their forbidden love survive?

A wonderful story about a passion that crosses cultures, a love that endures for a lifetime, and the hope that can only come from revisiting the past.

Author Biography:Liz Harris

Liz was born in London and now lives in South Oxfordshire with her husband. After graduating from university with a Law degree, she moved to California where she led a varied life, trying her hand at everything from cocktail waitressing on Sunset Strip to working as secretary to the CEO of a large Japanese trading company, not to mention a stint as ‘resident starlet’ at MGM. On returning to England, Liz completed a degree in English and taught for a number of years before developing her writing career.

Liz’s debut novel, The Road Back, won a 2012 Book of the Year Award from Coffee Time Romance in the USA and her second novel A Bargain Struck was highly praised by the Daily Mail in the UK.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comGeographically Specific: Ladakh (north of the Himalaya Mountains):

Ms. Harris has a way of capturing the scenery and the depth of locale in such a beautiful scale of visual fortitude! As I was reading the passages expressing the angst and anguish of Patricia’s life in London, England and then, juxtapositioned that life against the life of Kalden in Ladakh, and the imagery is quite startling! She gives the reader such a window into their everyday worlds as if to breathe in a piece of that scenery for the very first time and know that you’ve gone to the location rather than merely ‘visiting’ the locale off the printed page. For Ladakh, she even used local words which would make sense from the character’s point of view to be authentic and true to his identity, as much as writing in the everyday elements I have always appreciated which are stitched into the fabric of the background.

I love how through Kalden’s eyes we are seeing the lush beauty of the glaciers within the Himalayan mountains, as much as we see the stark isolating quiet of being present in a place that has more silence than sound. She gives you the essence of being in Kalden’s shoes, and for that I am celebrating ‘going somewhere’ quite different and alluring from what I have previously read. I love Eastern Religions and Spirituality, and having this story set in a mystical place as a backdrop to the enveloping story was a very special treat.

My Review of The Road Back:

Grabbing you in the heart with her opening bits of narrative to explain the journey Amy is about to embark on to seek out her birth parents now that her adoptive parents have passed on is gripping to say the least! The fact that I am reading this novel as a Prospective Adoptive Mum, of whom is planning to adopt children out of foster care in the future puts the story firmly in the forefront of my mind and heart. I have always had a strong empathic heart for children who either do not know their birth families if removed from their homes as infants or young toddlers, or children who know of their birth families but have been removed as school-aged children. The connective ties of family stitched together become fragmented memories and a heartache of ambiguous loss for the ones who never knew them at all. My heart went out to Amy as she’s on the brink of breaching back into her past, uncovering the secreted mysteries of her birth mother, and wondering if she is brave enough to handle what she discovers.

Patricia is the elder sister of a special needs brother, who was physically affected by the siege of war; her childhood is altered the day her father chooses him over her in his affection. For a young child to realise how a father can choose which child to adore, dot, and love more than the other, has ramifications as the child grows. I felt for her in the sequences where not even her mother was strong enough to stand against her father when he was in the wrong. And, how disconcerting it was to watch as he did not realise how he was affecting his daughter.

Kalden’s entrance into the story is heart-wretching as his position in his family is that of the fourth son, a designation that has him sentenced towards being a monk rather than a husband and father. In his culture, a fourth son cannot inherit land at least not in his family, where the land is divided by three and unable to be partitioned off into fourths. For such a young lad to enter the story, the weight of his heart bleds out of his scenes, giving us a heartfelt grasp of his reality despite the youth of his eight years.

The beautiful irony is that both Patricia and Kalden’s upbringings were a bit similar to each other, in that neither of their families elected to place their needs first or in any measure of importance. They were each self-reliant at a young age, and they each treasured their family’s affection but knew that for whichever reason, they were not the children in the family of whom theirs would consider had worth. Their lifepaths were already on a route towards convergence long before their encounter in Ladakh. Two souls from two very different worlds, and yet on the heart level, their spirits were entwined by the circumstances of their lives.

Tragedy affects people in different ways, and the unique twist in the story for me was in realising that out of the grief for her brother, Patricia turnt her full attention to her father rather than drawing closer to her Mum. Whereas Kalden’s world was tethered and tied to a missionary family whose only hope in life was to bring education to his village; yet the prejudice his village gave them in return shattered his hopes for a familial connection. Each of them were searching for something outside the tangible and outside the scope of what they fully understood. Life is lived forward and understood only in the hours in which we truly take a pause to resolve the angst of our souls.

An emotionally gutting story about two entwined soul mates who are magnetically connected to each other despite distance and circumstances attempting to separate them. My heart was full, my head was wrenched with a desire to know the ending, but it is not an ending you want to rush. You have to go through each step of the narrative, allowing their story (Patricia & Kalden) to absorb into you and become a part of you. Theirs is a love story that lifts up your own soul as you read the passages, and gives new meaning of hope through the transcendence of love set against the greatest odds two people could ever want to survive. This started out as an adopted daughter seeking her birth parents, but in the end, it is about a romance between two people who were forbidden from being together and found solace in their union.

Time Shift rather than Time Slip:

I appreciated the flow of the story being encapsulated inside of a ‘time shift’ rather than a ‘time slip’ sequencing, as it gave a strong sense of each character’s reality as the story was told. The start of the novel itself was with a proposition of unearthing information about Amy’s birth parents, yet it is where her journey takes her to find her birth mother & birth father that has such a confluence of drama and heart;  you will find that you do not want to put the book down! The pacing is set to its own rhythm as each chapter unfolds a new piece of either Patricia or Kalden’s lives, taking us one step closer to understanding who they were as adults. The novel is also broken into two distinctive parts, where the latter of the two is the summation of the whole.

A Note of Appreciation on behalf of the writing style of Ms. Harris:

This is the second novel I have read on behalf of Ms. Harris, and it is her début novel! I am thankful that I have had the honour to read two of her novels now, as her writing style within the heart of the narrative is fully conjoined, as she is a writer who puts her heart into her pen. She writes her heart out, and I will always appreciate that style, as it mirrors my own. I even appreciate the fact that she can move and shift through locations, time sequences, and elements of distinction between where her characters and story are set alive. She has the ability to become a chameleon as she writes one story to the next. This is a quality that is appreciated because she gives us such an intense view of her worlds and characters, with a pulse on who they are and how they lived that each story becomes an experience your willingly thankful to have had afterwards.Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

This book review is courtesy of ChocLitUK,

ChocLitUK Reviewer

Previously I have happily hosted Ms. Harris three times on Jorie Loves A Story:

a book review of A Bargain Struck,

an Author Guest Post on behalf of writing Western Fiction,

and an Author Guest Post on behalf of The Road Back.

check out my upcoming bookish events and mark your calendars!

#ChocLitSaturdays | a feature exclusive to Jorie Loves A Story

*NEWSFLASH* : Each Saturday henceforth onward from here in July shall feature a new ChocLit book review! For the updated schedule, please visit my Bookish Events page! The next novel I will be reading & sharing my thoughts on will be “Flight to Coorah Creek” by Janet Gover!

For those who are unware of #ChocLitSaturdays, the chat, we meet regular @ 11am EST / 4pm London! I created the chat to encourage new readers to discover not only the ChocLit novels I am showcasing & reading through my blog feature of the same name, but to help draw a close knit group of Romance booklovers, writers, and appreciators together for an hour of solid friendship and wicked sweet conversation!

All are welcome to attend! Tweet me or leave a comment in this thread for further details!

{SOURCES: Author photograph, Author Biography, Book Synopsis, and Book Cover were provided by ChocLitUK and were used by permission. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Jorie Loves A Story badge created by Ravven with edits by Jorie in FotoFlexer. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Saturday, 5 July, 2014 by jorielov in 20th Century, Adoption, Blog Tour Host, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Equality In Literature, Family Life, Father-Daughter Relationships, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Modern British Literature, Monastery, Monk, Mother-Son Relationships, Passionate Researcher, Psychological Abuse, Religious Orders, Romance Fiction, Time Shift, Writing Style & Voice

+Live Author Event+ Friday Chapter Series with Steampunk Author S.C. Barrus “Discovering Aberration”, Chapter One!

Posted Friday, 27 June, 2014 by jorielov , , , 2 Comments

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I have been wanting to listen to audiobooks for quite a long while now, and although this is technically not a traditional ‘audiobook’ per se, it is an author reading his novel aloud via live video feeds on YouTube! Therefore, its a non-traditional audiobook sequence of events! What drew me into wanting to listen to the story as it evolves each Friday, is the fact that one of his tweets about his book series caught my eye in my twitterverse feeds! I’m always searching for Steampunk authors & titles that I have not stumbled across as I have blogged about my sojourn into this realm previously; specifically my exploits at my local library!

I felt perhaps this might be an excellent way to get to know a new-to-me author & his story! Each Friday, I’m taking the chance on listening to a story I’ve only read the premise about and the author’s note on behalf of his novel on his book’s listing page. Perhaps on Fridays, you will join me!? I cannot be the only nightowl blogger!?

On a side note: I joined his newsletter as an “Adventurer” and cast my hat into the running to win a hardback copy of his novel! I did this the first time I saw his tweets, which was over a week ago!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comSpecifics:

Discovering Aberration by S.C. Barrus

Published ByAway & Away Publishing (author owned), 26 March, 2014
Official Author Websites: Site | Twitter | Facebook
Available Formats: Hardcover Softcover, & Ebook Page Count: 434

Authors of Inspiration:

Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, & H.P. Lovecraft

Converse on Twitter: #DiscoveringAberration

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Prior to the Broadcast:

Considering the fact I am more or less going into listening each Friday night @ 10:30pm PST (technically, this is 1:30am Saturday morning!) a bit blind to knowing about the author, his writing style & voice, as much as his characters and narration makes this quite the exciting treat! In fact, it recollects to mind what it must have been like for generations who grew up listening to radio broadcasts of their favourite fictional heroes and characters! Instead of telecasting via radio signals & waves, we have the age of the internet and the ability to have an author set up live feeds on YouTube! What bookish bliss, eh!? Noting that his inspirational authors include one mutually respected author (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle); one deeply curious about author (Jules Verne); one on the fence about author (Robert Louis Stevenson); one author I’ve changed my opinion of (Edgar Allan Poe: Read my “Mrs. Poe” review); and one author I’m curious about due to what I have heard of his works (H.P. Lovecraft) you may already denote an itching of excitement growing inside me to hear his voice share the opening bits of his Steampunk novel!

The fact that he wrote an unorthodox novel which does not specifically fit within the perimeters of modern tales of his respective choices of genre, delights me to no end! I love it when authors give a rambling narrative voice to their stories, to where we have to read the whole of the novel and story in order to understand the exact heart of what they stitched into their character’s lives! I love character-centered stories as much as I like the deft hand of a wordsmith who has the eloquence to build a world that we want to absorb inside and spend time navigating the finer details and points he has etched into the atmosphere of the world itself. I like slow-moving stories which allow the words to flow through us rather than over us, and have the tangible glistening of an evolving picture emerge out of the well of what is inside the chapters.

I am nearly on the edge of my seat in full expectation of a narrative journey about to begin!

And, of course the mere fact that my dyslexic math skills projected the start time @ 7:30pm EST rather than 1:30am EST, clearly proves my dedication! The YouTube channel designated for tonight’s broadcast has been counting down the hours in earnest since it was a bit past 7 hours left to go! Laughs with mirth. Sometimes you just have to find the cheeky irony in your life!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comTweets Leading Up to the Reading:

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

During the Broadcast: 

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comChapter 1 Notes:

a professor is in the middle of class, relaying bits of a book and reading to his class when the story begins. given a degree, a grant, and a residency on publication of a book based on the character’s journey to the Orient. bored beyond repair. the status que was found wanting rather than exciting as the opportunity had felt when given. ms. Olivia Newton is a cheeky student with questions that test the Professor’s patience. taxidermy ensembles attached to the clothes in the gathered crowd of students. a curious attention to elephants. survival of the fittest and cunning independence. a battle of classes. (“Gangs of New York” flashed through my mind, which made sense lateron!)

missed a bit when his voice went mechanised. (as i wrote ‘mech’ all I could think of was Midsummer!)

an interruption when someone interrupts the class. protesters are in the background in the streets. atmospheric setting. an urgency to know something that is most important. a humble home of a Professor in a mixed neighbourhood of residences.

missed a bit more when he read the words too quickly for me to hear them properly. the quicker he reads the more the mechanised effect happens.

pitched to write a book about his friend. crime lords & black markets. antiques. money to be had. an out of print book. parchment which was actually a map with writing which was particularly precise. an intricacy of details. an island. a key. a lost civilisation. a dead language. a mathematical connection of origin. a gypsy spirit of adventure pulls at the heart of the lead character. an adventure begging for him to embrace. a tempestuous proposition. an implorous consideration. a stolen map from a sailor who was dying & whose belongings thus belonged to a beguiling and foul man.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comChapter 2 Notes:

a back-story history of a particular place. a broad stroke of how one particular country and area progressed forward and slid backwards through time of it’s people. a particular empathsis on how violence threaded through the young persons and grew from there. this chapter is to explain a history of who the Professor’s friend stole the map from and to draw the reader into an understanding of the larger scope of the evolving picture being painted into full view. describing the hierarchy of the gangs and who became the crime lord to be feared by all.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comConcluding Takeaway Thoughts:

Sharp and crisp descriptions are given to purport his imagery and connective tissues of his novel, allowing the reader to be placed directly into the scene at hand. Sharp as glass, cuttingly convincing, and precise, his narrative voice is glistening with a bluntness and an honesty of where his characters are taking the reader on the journey about to be taken as his narrative bespeaks of a clarity of a writer’s pen for detail oriented story-craft. The manner in which he opens the novel and of which it is thus told, gives me the impression that the blunt strokes are mindful of a bloke’s approach towards relying a particular turbulent slice of history, whereas a lass might soften the edges a bit. The story eludes to being set within the perimeters of an adventurous historical fiction, half fantasy, and equal measures psychological suspense. As I have not yet heard where the dialogue nor the narrative broaches into horror. He does have an eloquent descriptive voice, and for the rougher characters and rougher bits of prose delves into stronger language as it is warranted, but not overtly so, nor unnecessary.

Despite the fact this novel is clearly outside the scope of what I regularly read, I cannot deny that it has me curious to hear more bits and bobbles of its full essence! I am most surely marking down the next ‘Friday Chapter Series’ event, in order to partake of another rousing night of wickedness, rebels, rogues, and the lot most likely found in Captain Jack Sparrow’s crew! I might be a lass who is bent more on the cosier side of literature, but even I found a heap of joy in the revelry of Sparrow & the crew in which boggled the mind half the time of their exploits!

I appreciate the notations he gives to clue the reader in on his classical literature roots of inspiration, and how he attempts to pay homage to the story-tellers that most likely will eventually knit together on my tCC List! I always knew Oliver Twist would be an interesting novel for me to read, and perhaps between now & a fortnight thence when we recommence to listen to Chapters 3 & 4, I can make a bit of headway into the story! I’d learn a bit more about the gangs of the street & the layout of power, and perhaps get my head to wrap around the gist of the story without asking too many elementary questions! I was most appreciative of his kindness and attention to his ‘readers & listeners’!

I do suppose its a sign, that I happen to have a pocket edition of Oliver Twist staring at me from my bookshelf?

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comAfterthoughts from the Author:

Scuttlters (All I could envision were the pirates from ALL the Caribbean films I adore so much!) were based on Victorian gangs & were based on historical facts, including the crime lord in the story. He showed to camera a deck of cards, which looked most curious! I missed a bit about why the deck was being shown to camera as I was attempting to compose my thoughts; going back and forth between YouTube & my blog! All I could think of in that moment is what a conversation piece that deck would be! I love playing board games & card games; like Hand & Foot or Shanghai Rummy? I’m most definitely a ‘vintage gamer’ both for traditional games and for video games alike! And, technically speaking I’ve been collecting ‘card decks’ since I was quite young! I always wanted to collect & gather interesting decks of cards because I felt that they would help open a conversation when you sit down to play!

Two of my favourite decks are an American flag deck, and a Mayan ruin deck I brought back from Mexico after climbing pyramids! I even have a deck with the Mt. Dew logo on it as I used to guzzle that curious green drink by the bottle attempting to ‘win’ a skateboard!

He answered my Qs first:

Fictitious country in a real world: (artistic license) Franklin P. Fitzgerald (Freddie) and his sidekick friend Thadeus Lumpkin. Early Victorian Era as advanced technology is beginning. (for me, this sort of felt Neo-Victorian rather than straight-up Steampunk, as it has a curious alter-history feel to the world.)

Originally wrote the story without the crime lords, and turnt into a quick story full of satire. Shelved the novel and re-wrote the novel. Twenty pages turned into sixty pages, with research into the time period. Fell in love with the characters and wanted to expand the story. Developed the criminal underworld into the story, and fleshed out a bit too much, to where it had to be cut out. Based on “The Gangs of London” a non-fiction book out of print where the scuttlers were based upon in the story.

Other listeners had trouble tuning in to the broadcast.

Another reader asked about how the first book ties into the second: a complex story he doesn’t want to discuss the plot if we haven’t read the first book as it would be a spoiler for us. PC (I need to ask how to proper have that title spelt!) takes place in the same world, but ten years before the first story. The Scarlets are a gang featured in “Discovering Aberration”, and goes into how the structure of their gang works. A mixture of “Oliver Twist” and “Ocean’s Eleven”. Freddie is not a protagonist, but the sequel after PC has Freddie return.

He gave me an ‘on air’ thank you note of gratitude for tweeting out the word leading through the countdown. He appreciated my tweet about his voice. He listens to more audiobooks than he reads books, and always felt he did not have the voice for it. He’s listening to Harry Potter (Order of the Phoenix, I believe!) at the moment and felt that the voice on there is better than his. (I disagree!) He is going to take a break from next Friday, and join up again the following Friday instead. He’s going to a convention – will note be able to return for a fortnight. If its the convention where we purchased the bowler hat for then I can only hope he looks as dapper as the hat he’s wearing in his author’s photograph! (via his website biography) I personally fell into the Steampunk genre by way of the artwork & fashion long before I entered the fictional worlds set around them! Laughs.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comMy goodness! I cannot wait for the next installments of this live author event! I am hopeful that if I made any grievous errors, the author will be kind to let me know either through PM or in the comment threads! I am so happy that I ‘caught’ sight of that tweet about “Discovering Aberration” on Twitter the other week! IF I had not seen it, and I might not have, as I’ve been taking a break again from hitting the ‘Home!’ button! (your aghast I can tell!) There enters a bit of a kismet factor to reading & the discovery of authors & their works. There is a season for everything in life, and I always felt that the timing of stories has a particular curiosity about when they are revealed! For me, I am properly full of gratitude for being caught up in this unique event and for being the winner of a giveaway I did not even know was happening! How delightful! And, may this post inspire you, dear hearts to stay up later than late and listen to the next chapters of this tale that simply bewitches you to listen! Please share your thoughts!

Discovering Aberration Kickstarter Intro via S.C. Barrus

I decided to share this because I should have known to scope out his previously uploaded videos to find out more information about his novel once I had read it originated by a Kickstarter Project! Whoopsie! He mentions a bit about the plot and how it evolves forward! I can say, that listening to his first two chapters was an adventure in of itself, and I do not regret going in ‘blind’ without understanding a few of the finer points ahead of time! Enjoy!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

This post is part of:

Friday Night Reading Series badge created by Jorie in Canva

{SOURCES: Audiobook Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. The intro video for “Discovering Aberration” via S.C. Barrus had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. The Friday Night Reading Series badge created by Jorie in Canva.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Friday, 27 June, 2014 by jorielov in 19th Century, Audiobook, Bookish Discussions, Classic Adventure, Classic Horror, Classic Mystery, Classic Science Fiction, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Friday Night Reading Series, Genre-bender, Indie Author, Indie Book Trade, Inspired by Stories, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Kickstarter Project, Live Author Event, Self-Published Author, the Victorian era, The Writers Life, Vulgarity in Literature, Writing Style & Voice

+Blog Book Tour+ Hero’s Best Friend: an Anthology of Animal Companions {edited by} Scott M. Sandridge, featuring an Editor Guest Post!

Posted Sunday, 22 June, 2014 by jorielov , , 6 Comments

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Heros Best Friend Anthology Blog Tour with Tomorrow Comes Media

Published By: Seventh Star Press (@7thStarPress), 12 February, 2014
Official Author WebsitesBlog | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads
Available Formats: Softcover Page Count: 472
Genres: Short Story | Fantasy  | Animals in Fiction

Converse on Twitter: #HerosBestFriendAntho & #7thStar

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

There are books which enter our lives and conscience heart well ahead of their actual publication date, and this particular anthology came into my view in late 2013. It was around the time of the first-ever Twitter party for the debut writerly convention Imaginarium in Louisville, Kentucky this coming September! I was quite charmed by the premise of the stories which would be lit alive inside its covers and I was quite eager to learn more about the collection as it came time to review it for a blog tour! Clearly confident in my ability to secure a tour spot, as sometimes when you believe in a book, you just have to go the extra mile! (as I have for Uncovering Cobbogoth and Portals, Passages, and Pathways!)

Imagine my gobsmacked horror to realise that the complimentary copy of Hero’s Best Friend went plumb amiss in the Post! Yes, dear hearts, somewhere out there between Kentucky and here, there is a copy floating through the mail system! You see, I had planned to compose my observational thoughts on the stories today! Never one to throw in the towel if life throws me lemons, I quickly contacted the editor Mr. Sandridge and conferred with him about an impromptu Guest Post in lieu of the planned review!

Sandridge came through for me and provided me with lovely insight into how animal companions and animals inside stories have enchanted him as much as they have myself! I am always delighted finding others who appreciate the same interests I have but to have such a stellar essay whipped up as quickly as he threw this one together is a blessing to a book blogger! I cannot thank him enough for giving me a way ‘back on the tour!’

Please take a moment to look over the information on the anthology’s contents before proceeding into his essay about the genre-bending inclusion of ‘animal companions!’

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Heroes Best Friend : Anthology by Seventh Star Press
Artwork Credit: Enggar Adirasa

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

May I take a moment to express my gratitude for the artwork by Enggar Adirasa! The front cover’s image simply draws you into wanting to seek the stories out inside this collection of shorts! Especially if you are an appreciator of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe motion picture! (I did not get as enraptured with the books!) I would love to hear your take on what alights in your mind as you look a bit at the cover and compose your thoughts in the comment threads below! I look forward to seeing what you share! It is still a bit of a mystery for me to know of which story this illustrative piece is referencing! And, I cannot wait to find out!

Anthology Synopsis: Hero’s Best Friend: an Anthology of Animal Companions

Scott M. Sandridge

How far would Gandalf have gotten without Shadowfax? Where would the Vault Dweller be without Dogmeat? And could the Beastmaster been the Beastmaster without his fuzzy allies? Animal companions are more than just sidekicks. Animals can be heroes, too!
Found within are twenty stories of heroic action that focuses on the furries and scalies who have long been the unsung heroes pulling their foolish human buddies out of the fire, and often at great sacrifice-from authors both established and new, including Frank Creed, S. H. Roddey, and Steven S. Long.

Whether you’re a fan of Epic Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, Science Fiction, or just animal stories in general, this is the anthology for you!

So sit back, kick your feet up, and find out what it truly means to be the Hero’s Best Friend.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Scott M. Sandridge is a writer, editor, freedom fighter, and all-around trouble-maker. His latest works as an editor include the Seventh Star Press anthologies Hero’s Best Friend: An Anthology of Animal Companions, and the two volumes of A Chimerical World, Tales of the Seelie Court and Tales of the Unseelie Court.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Stories inside: Hero’s Best Friend:

Joy Ward: “Toby and Steve Save the World”

Frank Creed: “Dusk”

Cassie Schau: “The Hunter’s Boy”

Steven Donahue: “Grit”

Jason Cordova: “Hill 142”

Herika R. Raymer: “Dook”

Essel Pratt: “Brothers”

Lisa Hawkridge: “Ezra’s Girl”

S. H. Roddey: “Look What the Cat Dragged In.”

Steven S. Long: “The Wolf Sentinel”

Laura Anne Ewald: “Memorandum”

Cindy Koepp: “The Hat”

Ian Hunter: “Scarheid in the Glisting”

Steven Grassie: “The Masterless”

David Wright: “Wind of Change”

Renee Carter Hall: “The Emerald Mage”

Nick Bryan: “The Violet Curse”

Lillian Csernica & Kevin Andrew Murphy: “The Restless Armadillo”

Douglas J. Ogurek: “Stuck on the Squigglybounce”

Sheila Deeth: “Passage”

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Animal Stories Span Genres

By Scott M. Sandridge

Growing up, I watched all the classic films of Lassie and Benji. Reading White Fang showed me that the best animal stories are the ones done from the animal’s point of view, and I later realized that they can be some of the most difficult stories to write. Cujo showed me that animals can make for great characters in Horror, and Lord of the Rings introduced me to Shadowfax. And who hasn’t seen Mad Max or The Beast Master?

The post-apocalyptic video game series, Fallout, expanded my view of the different genres that animal companions can be in. Fallout and Fallout 3 introduced me to the roughest, toughest, and most loyal companion you can have on your team: Dogmeat, a dog so tough he can take down a super mutant with his bare teeth (and can survive my very bad aim with grenades). Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas introduced me to robot dogs and cyborg dogs. They were pretty tough, too (but could never survive my bad aim with grenades, alas).

When I pitched my idea for an anthology about animal companions to Seventh Star Press, I knew the Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery genres would be well represented. Animal companions have been a classic mainstay in those genres for a long time. But by allowing the anthology to be open to all genres, I became pleasantly surprised at the submissions that arrived. In Hero’s Best Friend: An Anthology of Animal Companions, not only will you find Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, and Contemporary, but also Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, and Bizarro. If Hero’s Best Friend proves anything, it’s that animal companion stories can span all genres and subgenres.

And why not? Our relationship to animals, and their relationship to us, tells us as much about the human condition as human-to-human relationships. Just as we see our real life pets as extended family members, in fiction (when the writer does it right) the animals we read about become just as real to us as the human characters. They make us laugh, make us cheer, and make us cry: just as much as, if not more than, the human characters do.

I’m honored to have been the editor of such an anthology, with a theme so dear to my heart. And I’m thankful that Seventh Star Press gave me the opportunity to have such an anthology available for all of you to enjoy.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

What I appreciate the most about this particular collection of stories is having each of them capture the essence of a genre-bending sphere of literary delight! They are representative of their actual genres, but they sound as though they give a bit more than what those branches of literature might usually encompass at the very same time! I love fiction that takes on new meanings and new depths, whether I am soaking into a book, a short story, or even whilst immersed into the latest Doctor Who episode I am discovering for the very first time! I find that the series is the epitome of ‘genre-bending’ and brilliance of execution on captivating a person’s attention at the jump-start beginning!

Sandridge and I share a common ground for appreciating animal companions, as his top three choices match my own, as I quite literally rented “Benji: the Hunted” from the rental shoppes so often they nearly gave me the VHS tapes for free! I say ‘nearly!’ as they never could seem to get permission from corporate to do so! Oy! I was simply captivated by Benji, for the same reasons I loved “The Adventures of Natty Gann” in which Natty’s companion is a wolf; “The Neverending Story” who as the wickedest dragon on the planet! (another film in common, he mentions this elsewhere on the tour!); the Mountain Family Robinson trilogy where Crest protected the family; previously I have mentioned my affection for “Pete’s Dragon”; and many others I am failing to draw to memory today! What I appreciate about Jack London is his ability to get your heart attached to a wolf in a way that is different than Natty Gann but is a bit similar to “Due South”; a tv series which features a deaf wolf who takes interest in protecting a Mountie!

From our beginnings of noting animal companions and animals in fiction, we differ a bit on our paths after childhood because I am suspecting the video games are not the ones I’d personally play myself! I’m always going to have half a step and foot on the family and children side of the ledger, not only because I’m a future foster-adoptive Mum, nor even because I’m an Auntie at present, but because I tend to like the innocence in stories for younger generations. I’d wrap myself into a family film far quicker than I would an intense video game! I am a gamer, a title I apparently acquired at three, as I’ve been playing games on the computer since I first started using one! Wayy back when Atari was all the rage and long before Nintendo or the ability to borrow my neighbourhood friend’s Sega Genesis so I could play with Sonic, the quirky hedgehog!

You’ll even note a new ‘tag’ on my Twitter profile which sums me up quite well: Vintage Gamer! By board, card, or video, I like a bit of a unique ‘vintage’ or ‘yesteryear’ spin to what I game! Not to say I don’t like an action-based game either, as let’s face it, I cannot deny I helped beat “Street Fighter” in sixth grade! I digress!

The best news of all, no matter how we gather our passions for animal companions, nor where we wander to find the companions that mean the world to their masters, we each have our own ‘coveted niche’ in the genres we appreciate reading and watching! And, I for one will always celebrate the uniqueness of our individual passions if we can sometimes draw a common thread towards each other and celebrate the love of story-telling which ignites a fever pitch passion for our imaginations!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Blog Book Tour Stop, courtesy of Tomorrow Comes Media

Heros Best Friend Anthology Blog Tour with Tomorrow Comes Media

Virtual Road Map of the “Hero’s Best Friend” Blog Tour:

16 June: Guest Post of Scott M. Sandridge “Writers Are Born, Then Made” @ Beagle Book Space

16 June: Interview: S.H. Roddey (author of a short) @ Deal Sharing Aunt

17 June: Guest Post of Essel PrattSheila Deeth

18 June: Guest Post of Henrik R. Raymer @ Come Selahway With Me

18 June: Guest Post of Scott M. Sandridge “Animals & the Hero Archetype” @ On Cloud Eight-and-a-Half

19 June: Guest Post of Sheila Deeth @ Sapphyria’s Book Reviews

20 June: Guest Post of S.H. Roddey @ Beauty in Ruins

21 June: Guest Post of Scott M. Sandridge “Animal Stories Span Genres” @ Jorie Loves a Story

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comCheck out my upcoming bookish events to see what I will be hosting next for

Tomorrow Comes Media Tour Host

and mark your calendars!

I am going to be reading & reviewing “Hero’s Best Friend” 

as soon as I receive a copy of the anthology!

Stay tuned!

Watch my tweets!

And return back to this blog!

What draws you into reading anthologies in the fantasy realms?! What are some of your favourite fantasy-centered anthologies of short stories!? Are there any authors you were ‘introduced to’ via an anthology that you regularly read now!? Who are some of your favourite ‘animal companions’ in fiction and motion picture?! And, don’t forget to share your thoughts about the book cover art!

{SOURCES: Editor photograph, Editor Biography, Book Synopsis, Book Cover, and TCM Tour Host badge were provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and were used by permission. Jorie requested an Author Guest Post from Scott M. Sandridge by way of Mr. Sandridge, of which she received a reply. She wanted to remain on the tour when the book went amiss in the post, and he obliged her with this wicked post topic! Guest Post badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Sunday, 22 June, 2014 by jorielov in Action & Adventure Fiction, An Editor Point of View, Animals in Fiction & Non-Fiction, Anthology Collection of Stories, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Convention, Bookish Discussions, Fantasy Fiction, Genre-bender, Imaginarium, Indie Author, Indie Book Trade, Reader Submitted Guest Post (Topic) for Author, Science Fiction, Seventh Star Press, Short Stories or Essays, Speculative Fiction, The Writers Life, Tomorrow Comes Media, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, Writing Style & Voice